Committee Hearing, October 2, 2006

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA JOINT COMMITTEES ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND PUBLIC HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES - - - West Philadelphia High School Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, October 2, 2006 7:10 p.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO RESOLUTION 051155 - Resolution authorizing the Council Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to hold hearings regarding the findings and recommendations of the "Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia," and further authorizing the Committees to seek advice and recommendations on how Philadelphia can reduce and eliminate crime affecting the City's youth. - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2

Good evening, everyone. My name is Marian Tasco. I am Chair of the Public Health and Human Services Committee. Tonight we are co-sponsoring with the Public Safety Committee, chaired by Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, a series of public hearings across the City. Two hundred ninety five. This is the number of homicides in Philadelphia this year, and we have still three months to go before 2007. When will this madness stop? When will we get sick and tired of living with the crime and violence that is wreaking havoc on our City? And I dare say tonight we saw the news today about what happened up in the Amish country. According to a recent Philadelphia Inquirer story, an FBI report, Philadelphia was No. 1 among big cities for violent crime. Last year, violent crime was up 3.4 percent, which includes a 1.5 percent increase in 3 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 homicides. Considering this information, we not only have a serious crime issue in our City, but a major public health crisis. Something has to be done about this violence that is escalating in our City, about the number of guns in our City and about the willingness of our youth to resort to handguns to address their problems. That something has started and continues today as we hold this Joint Public Health and Human Services and Public Safety Committees hearing, not in City Hall but here in the community, to discuss this epidemic of violence and how the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia can address this problem. We started this process in City Council last spring. The two joint committees came together and held public hearings in Council Chambers. And then we have taken this hearing on the road throughout the City of Philadelphia, 4 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 beginning in Germantown at Germantown High School, Olney High School, South Philadelphia High School, Gratz High School. Last week we were at Overbrook. Tonight we are here, and next week, the 19th, we will be at Bartram High School. Tonight is another step in our process of solving this problem. Last Tuesday, we went to Harrisburg to rally, demonstrate and bring attention to this issue and to address the members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. On Tuesday, our State Representatives needed to hear our voices and see our presence in Harrisburg so that they know that we are serious about our efforts to end the violence in Philadelphia and throughout our State. I would like to thank my colleagues, members of the Committee, Councilman Rizzo, who is here, and again Councilwoman Miller, who will address you. I'd also like to recognize State Representative James Roebuck, and you 5 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 will hear from State Representative Dwight Evans. And I also thank you, the public, for your participation in our effort to commence ending violence in our City. Through your presence and participation, you are demonstrating that you, like all of us, are sick and tired of this crime and violence problem in our City. Enough is enough, and together we can develop a solution to this problem. We would have hoped that we get more people to come out, because the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia is a blueprint. It is to come together to figure out what we can do collectively to end the violence, and we're here tonight to hear from you. Before we begin the program, let me have my Legislative Chief, Derek Green, read the resolution so we can formally open this meeting. The meeting is being recorded by our stenographer. We will have a record of the proceedings, and hopefully at the end of the series of 6 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 hearings, we will do a report, which we will give to our colleagues in City Council.

Resolution 051155, resolution authorizing the Council Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to hold hearings regarding the findings and recommendations of the "Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia," and further authorizing the Committees to seek advice and recommendations on how Philadelphia can reduce and eliminate crime affecting the City's youth.

We will now hear from Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller of the Eighth Councilmanic District and Chair of the Public Safety Committee.

Good evening, everyone. I don't have long remarks, but, again, I just want to say that we are here to discuss the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia and its ten-year 7 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 plan. There's been so much talk of violence in our City, from murders and other violent forms of crime, that we felt it necessary to convene these public hearings in communities to get the input from our constituency. As we all know, we cannot legislate attitude change. One of the reasons we brought these hearings to the community is to show the rest of our City that we are not indifferent. Indifference can be an easy solution. It's so much easier to look away from victims. It's so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our daily lives. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome to be involved in another person's pain and despair. Gun violence is only a part of what we are here for today. We are here to show our young people that they are not destined to a violent end. We want to offer them other alternatives to taking lives as a way of resolving 8 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 disputes. We want to give them other options for their future. We want to let them know that there is a bright future ahead of them and not one of doom and gloom. Certainly everyone today that I've talked to is very saddened by the shootings that's taken place up in Lancaster County. And I was just looking at the news and it said that there have been 100 shootings, 100 type shootings similar to this one that we had today in Lancaster. Everybody just shakes their head. They're all saddened. We just don't know what to do. As elected officials, as citizens, we just don't know what to do. And I guess one of the good things that we can do is everybody put their heads together and come up with suggestions, because that's all we can do right about now, other than use our State Representative, Dwight Evans, to help us get funding for various programs. 9 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: Thank you, Donna.

Thank you. Thank you all for coming out.

Let me just say before I introduce State Representative Evans, Councilwoman Miller and Councilman Darrell Clarke have introduced and we have had hearings on several bills that they have introduced, had hearings on the Calendar waiting to be passed, but we can't do it until the State legislature takes action. Anyway, she'll tell you what the bills are, but the bills are to control the guns, and I'll let her talk about it. But the Council has taken a leadership role in trying to gain local control over how we deal with guns in Philadelphia. At one time, Councilman Ortiz introduced a bill in Philadelphia to ban assault weapons, but that was overridden by the State legislature. They said we don't have the power to 10 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 legislate guns or gun activity in Philadelphia. That's what we're trying to do in Harrisburg. So we want you to know that we are trying on the local level to do what we can to exercise some control, and I wanted you to know that Councilwoman Miller and Councilman Darrell Clarke have been very forceful in trying to get their bills passed.

Right. We actually have probably about eight bills. Another one was introduced last week. But Philadelphia does not have the authority to enact its own gun laws, and that's why it's important that our partners at the State level have now taken those bills to the State to fight, and it's actually a real fight. Representative John Myers, whom we sent about four bills up to and it's a one gun a month, called me this morning to tell me that he believes and he was sure that he's going to get beat up tomorrow when 11 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 his one-gun-a-month bill comes up on the House floor, and he said that he's actually heard Reps talking about how they can't wait for this bill to come up tomorrow so they can defeat it in a major way.

Maybe not after today.

You're right, because now it's in Lancaster. I used to work for State Representative David Richardson, and we always had a staff exchange. We brought our Harrisburg staff down to Philadelphia and we, in turn, went up to Harrisburg. And people in Harrisburg and people in other parts of the State, maybe other than Pittsburgh, just don't have a real clue of what we go through here in Philadelphia. So taking the bus to Harrisburg last Tuesday I thought was an excellent way to show our State Reps and our State Senators that they have our support, that people in Philadelphia care 12 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 enough to take a day off to go to Harrisburg to show them support for the bills that they're introducing. We had another bill in 2005 where voters went to the polls and voted, should Philadelphia control its own gun laws, and 80 percent of the voters voted yes. And so that's one of the bills that Representative Evans has now introduced and he'll be fighting for, but we have a long fight ahead, a long fight ahead. I just wanted to give you a briefing, but there's many other bills, like straw purchases and other things.

One of the things we're going to do, we're going to have the presentations and then we're going to open the floor for questions. The presentations are brief. We're going to ask our State Representative, Dwight Evans, to come forward and explain to you how we came about the Blueprint, what is the Blueprint and what does it do. But first let me recognize Sergeant Kyler, 13 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 who is here with us, and also State Representative Ronald Waters, who has joined us at the end of the table. In 1999 when Representative Evans was a candidate for Mayor, he was talking about the No. 1 issue in the country was guns and violence, and we were all telling him, he had a wonderful story to tell about what he had done up on Ogontz Avenue in revitalizing that community and why didn't he tell that story, but his message was, in 1999, we have to do something about the violence, the guns, the violence in the City of Philadelphia. At that time, it wasn't sexy and the message fell on deaf ears. Here we are in 2006 and that is the message, and he has taken a leadership role in the City of Philadelphia on the issue of guns and violence. And I'd like to introduce him to you, because he is sort of the initiator of the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. He will talk to you about 14 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 the Blueprint, what it does, how it came about and how the funding works and how you might be able to get involved. Then we have Alicia Jackson from MEE Productions, who will talk to you about what they're doing to promote the Blueprint and to engage the broader community in the activities of the Blueprint. Then we have Archye Leacock, Don't Fall Down in the Hood, who is the gentleman who is working in the community to help stem the tide of violence and working with young people. And then we have the 18th Police District, Sergeant Kyler, who is here with us tonight. We'll first begin with our State Representative, Dwight Evans. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: Thank you very much, Madam Chairperson. Before I make a few comments relating to how we got to where we are, I want to sincerely thank Councilwoman 15 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Marian Tasco, Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and Councilman Frank Rizzo, because we started this partnership in City Council, and we have gone from City Council to Germantown to Olney to Gratz to South Philly, Overbrook last week and West Philadelphia, and then we're due to go to Strawberry Mansion and Bartram. And it's not an accident, it's not an accident that we're doing it in the schools. I want you to think about this for a second. The incident that occurred in Colorado, the 16-year-old who was shot and killed was in a school. The young boy who was 15 years old who shot a principal was in a school. The incident today was in a school. If we cannot make our schools safe, there is a direct connection to our ability to grow our economy. Let me repeat that. If we cannot make our schools safe and secure, there's a direct connection to what happens in our 16 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 economy, because schools are the basis of our ability to grow. And if you think about the incidents in Colorado, in Lancaster and in Wisconsin, they all happened in schools. And think about this: There used to be a time, if you have a child, that you could send them to school and you were assured that they would be safe and secure. That no longer exists. Now, the reason I want to thank Marian Tasco and Donna Reed Miller from their perspectives, because this is not an easy issue to deal with. This is not going to be dealt with in an election cycle. This is not going to be dealt with in next year's Mayor's race or Council's race. This is a long-time struggle, and this is a movement. And the reason I said what Marian Tasco said to me was, I want to share with you what I think was the tipping point to this movement. Faheem Thomas-Childs, February 17 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES.

051155 of 2004, on his way to school, in the right place, not the wrong place, 90 rounds he gets shot in the head, a 10-year-old. From that effort, Jerry Mondesire, Jewell Williams and others led a 12,000-person march. From that march, Jewell and Jerry came to me and they said to me, What is it that we can do? I met a person out of Harvard by the name of Dr. Stith, and she wrote a book called "Murder is Preventable," and in that book she described what happens with murders and the trends, and I want you to think about this for a second. When murder primarily is happening in black neighborhoods, in poor neighborhoods, in people of color, folks generally didn't think much of a problem. When the problem happened in Columbine, when it happened in Columbine, there was a different attitude about it. What I have been saying consistently is that no one is immune. You can live in the City, you can live in 18 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 the suburb, you can live in rural Pennsylvania. No one is immune from this violence. This is a national epidemic. So when I met Dr. Stith, who is a medical doctor, who is a trauma doctor, she stopped patching people up and she went on a crusade and talked about this as a public health problem, very similar to cigarettes. In 1964, there was a Surgeon General report and the Surgeon General report talked about the danger of cigarettes, and if you recall, in 1964, they started putting warning labels on cigarettes. It went from warning labels to a full-blown campaign. Now you have a debate around not just the nation but around the world where you have entire countries where people don't -- they have campaigns against smoking. Well, I would argue we are at the same point about violence. Now, we have tried the criminal justice approach, and the criminal justice approach by itself will not solve 19 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 this problem. You can't hire enough police officers, though we need more police officers. You can't build enough prisons, though there's nothing wrong with having them because some people deserve to be in prison. So, yes, you can get more police officers, but by itself. The public health aspect of it is where the Blueprint comes in. What a group of us decided is, we got together -- and this is where the MEE Production will explain what happened -- is, we're running kind of a campaign to try to undo this type of behavior. So what happened is, we, Ron Waters here and Representative Roebuck, both of them, we have been hitting this on every front you can think of. We've been talking about guns. We've been talking about public health. We've been doing grass-root organizing. We've been going neighborhood by neighborhood. We've been doing everything. And each member does 20 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 something that can contribute to what you call a Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. So what Councilwoman Marian Tasco and Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and Councilman Frank Rizzo are doing is, we're doing something that we probably should have done a long time ago. We're just kind of going to grass-root organizing from the bottom up, not from the top down. And we're trying to solicit your effort to join this movement, because that's what this is. We're trying to solicit you to join this movement. We have a hotline number called 1-888-570-BLUE, 1-888-570-BLUE, which Alicia will talk to you about. We have a website. And what we've basically been doing is, we've been kind of going neighborhood by neighborhood, organizing, getting people to go door by door, canvassing. You name it, that's what we've been trying to do. And then we've 21 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 been organizing the groups to kind of hook the groups up with various neighborhoods. There's all kinds of activity that occur around the City. So far in terms of the money in the last three years, a total of $28 million has been invested towards this Blueprint.

For example, money in which you call Witness Relocation Program with Cherelle Parker. There's a local State Firearm Task Force, which is dealing with enforcement around gun policy. A parent involvement program, which basically you have a parent desk at schools, the organizing parents. We have what you call a Gun Court, which deals with gun issues. We have patrol of Philadelphia interstate, which Councilman Frank Rizzo was one of the ones to lead. We have three hospitals we work with, Pennsylvania injury reporting, which we're working with hospitals in terms of documenting. The Violent Reduction Partnership we have as an initiative. 22 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 And then we fund an awful lot of groups in the City of Philadelphia that are involved. So you can see we are trying to hit this from short term and long term. It's a ten-year initiative that is targeted to trying to eradicate youth homicides by the year 2016, because it's going to take this kind of an effort. And I know there's a lot of people who say, What are you doing now? Well, this just didn't get here where we are today. I mean, it's really deep-seated to understand this question of violence. Think about something for a second. Dr. Martin Luther king led a movement with using non-violence as a tool, when there was dogs and fire hoses and everything, and he charged the movement basically using that as a tool, which revolutionized this country and this world, and he stayed consistent. He stayed consistent. If you look between him and Rosa Parks, it was a consistent 23 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 effort. So my theory is, when you have a righteous position -- and are there going to be setbacks? And you will look at the statistics. We're up to like 290 murders. We're up to 1,300 shootings, and I know you look at those numbers and stuff and then you ask yourself a question, Is there a connection between what we're trying to do and the reduction. I can only say to you that we can't afford to do what we have done in the past, start and stop. What Councilwoman Marian Tasco and Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller are doing and Councilman Rizzo is doing is, basically they are the official City representatives and they're, in a sense, giving a stamp of approval of the City government. Ron Waters and Jim Roebuck here, we are from the State perspective. And I've been in politics a long time. Never has there been a joint effort between the City Council and the 24 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Philadelphia delegation to attack this issue. I mean, think about that. You got the City legislators here and you got the State legislators here, which are trying to make policy changes to put things in place that will reduce violence. So I want you to understand something. I want you to understand. So if you go from Faheem Thomas-Childs, he was shot and killed in February of 2004. We met for the first time in April of 2004 with the DA. Yes, we met with all of these people, and we basically have been trying to collectively bring our influence to attack this issue. So I want to put that in perspective to you to understand how we have been working together to send a message to all of our constituents, because we all represent you. Even though we may be from districts and sometimes -- I think sometimes people get too caught up into districts and what 25 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 districts they're from, but let me tell you something, a bullet doesn't know anything about a district. Let me repeat that again. A bullet does not know anything about a district. I don't think a bullet stops -- what's your district number, Jim? REPRESENTATIVE ROEBUCK: 188. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: 188. I'm in the 203. You think a bullet knows the difference between those districts? Ron, what are you? REPRESENTATIVES WATERS: 191. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: 191. And Frank Rizzo is the only one who is a Councilman-at-large, and others are 8 and 9. I don't think bullets know anything.

I don't think a bullet stops at a district line and says, I can't pass this district, I can't go in this district. It doesn't know anything about it. So what we're trying to say to you, we're trying to show you as the elected leadership in this City that we 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 have a unified effort and we are not going to stop until we can collectively with you -- because we must do it with you. It's not us -- it's not a piece of legislation in City Council or in Harrisburg or in Washington, but what it is, what we're trying to show you -- and it's been a lot of work, and that's why I want to applaud the Councilpeople in what they're doing. They have districts in another part of the City, but they come. They've been regularly sticking with this, and I want to just say that to you. So I want to now turn it over to Alicia Jackson, who can talk about the specifics.

Just a second, Representative Evans. Just before Alicia speaks, I would like to recognize Councilman Rizzo as a member of this Committee, who would like to make a few comments, and I apologize, Councilman.

No problem 27 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 at all. Councilwomen Tasco, Donna Reed Miller, thank you for bringing our Council hearings to the community, but I must say that I have to applaud the members of our House, Dwight Evans. I went to Harrisburg and I know how difficult it is for you gentlemen and the ladies also that represent Philadelphia, how difficult it is to deal with some of your colleagues. We met. We thought we would get at least a cordial reception, and it was far from that. They didn't want to hear anything at all. Matter of fact, one particular State Senator was very, very rude to us. And my point is that the members of the House that are here, it's difficult for them up there, because when they walk down the hallway, their colleagues aren't very happy that they brought thousands of people to Harrisburg to protest on the steps of the Capitol. So I thank you personally for 28 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 fighting this fight for us, and hopefully some of the legislators that weren't cordial that think this is only Philadelphia, after today, I hate to say, that it's sad that an example like this has to be put at their feet. But I think that every bad thing has something good at the end of the day, and I hope this opens their eyes. Because I left the meeting after one of my colleagues, Councilwoman Juan Ramos, was attacked by one of these State Senators, and I said to him, I get e-mails from your district, from your constituents, to tell me they won't come to Philadelphia because they believe it's violent. So I would just like to see the look on their face tonight. Thank you, all.

A quick short story I will share with you. When State Representative David P. Richardson was in the House, for many years he tried to get the State legislators to lift the 29 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 lien law. In the old days when unfortunately you might have had to go on public assistance, you owned property, the State would lien your property for the amount until you paid it back. If you sold your house and you hadn't paid the lien, they would take the money from your sale. And he tried to convince the rest of the State that it was important that they lift this lien law, but the State Representatives just thought it was Philadelphia and those poor people down there who can't stay off of welfare. Well, back in the '80s, mid '80s when the steel mills closed upstate Pennsylvania and those people who had worked in the steel mills for years and who owned their homes had to go on assistance, it became quite apparent to the legislators that they had to do something, and it was because of this that the Representative's bill finally passed, but it took a very long time. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: Sixteen 30 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 years.

Sixteen years for them to see. And I hope that we don't have to wait until more people are killed upstate. It's just like predatory lending, we couldn't get them to understand it until the people were being preyed upon in the rest of the part of the State. So let's hope that we don't have to have more killings like today, and when these people kill a lot of innocent people in one time, that the legislators can see that there has to be something done. So now I thank you for letting me share that story with you, but it sort of ties in with what Councilman Rizzo was saying. Alicia Jackson from MEE Productions, please proceed. Thank you so much for coming.

Thank you. How is everyone doing this 31 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 evening? We appreciate you coming out. As it's been said, we really appreciate the Councilpersons here, specifically Councilwoman Tasco, Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, Councilman Rizzo and, more importantly, State Representative Evans. My name again is Alicia Jackson. I'm with an organization called MEE, M-E-E, Production. We're a research-based communications company located here in Philadelphia but doing national work around a lot of public health issues, specifically violence. We were brought in to this effort about a year and a half ago as the team that Representative Evans talked about was looking at a different strategy around how we approach violence in Philadelphia. As a part of this new approach, the Representative, of course, alluded to the criminal justice aspect, and we concur. We cannot continue to deal with this issue from a criminal justice 32 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 standpoint. So we were very excited to be involved in this effort as it was looked at from a public health standpoint. And when we talk public health, we're talking prevention. We were brought in as a social marketing company to actually develop a social marketing campaign, and what that is intended to do, that is intended to, one, raise awareness in the community around a particular issue. This issue being violence prevention. In addition to that, we're charged with raising the level of education around violence prevention. The ultimate goal is to change our behavior with reference to how we approach violence. We don't want to be reacting to violence. We want to now start to think about violence very differently. As a research-based communications company, our initial strategy with reference to the campaign 33 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 was to go out and talk to the community. We actually conducted focus groups with community-based organizations, parents and young people here in Philadelphia around how they view violence. There were a lot of consistencies with this research. Some of the major findings were, which are very critical as you talk about message development, the community, the parents and young people all articulated that education is critical. Education is most important, and we need to focus on these young folks' education. They articulated that, and it was very strong. Another major finding as a result of this research was that adult involvement is critical. These young folk need adults involved in their lives. Right now we're looking at a lack of adult involvement. So they articulated, along with community-based organizations and along with parents, that adults must step to the forefront and be involved in 34 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 this effort. Another critical finding was that parenting was very important to young people. We're not placing blame. We're not saying that parents are at the root of this problem, and we're not saying that parents are at fault. What we are saying is that parents need support. So we're here to educate the community to say it takes all of us to raise these children, and parents need our assistance with doing that. And then, finally, another critical finding was that, again, kids articulated that they wanted us to be involved in their lives. Unlike most people think, kids really want us to be there for them, and they articulated this. For anybody who wants this research, it is available in DVD format, as well as in a written research report, and it's available to anyone who would like this research to, again, check out 35 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 the findings for the issue of violence in Philadelphia. As a result of those findings, MEE Productions set out to develop a campaign around those messages. This is a multi-component campaign. It is a multi-year campaign, as the Representative articulated, and we really thank him for his vision as well as his leadership.

This is not going to happen overnight. It's going to take some time. So we are looking at ten years of hard work, of rolling our sleeves up to say, Let's get into the community, let's get into the trenches to change our behavior as it pertains to violence. We have started this campaign back in February of 2006 where we launched radio ads. You might have heard those radio ads. Again, we're talking the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. In addition to the radio ads, there are print materials out. I 36 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 distributed a few of those print materials this evening before we got started. I will distribute more. These materials are in the community. We are saturating community-based organizations, churches and individuals with these materials in the community. In addition, we will be launching TV PSAs this fall. So look out for those. Now, we are doing the traditional media strategies, if you will. That's part of the social marketing strategy. You must hit the community via mass channels. But what's important and what's unique to MEE Productions' strategy is that we are also getting into the community to have a sound dialogue with the community around this issue. Just like we're here tonight, we're looking to have a dialogue. It's real important for us to have PSAs, but it's more important for us to come into the community so we can have 37 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 an exchange around how we're going to approach this particular issue. With that said, we've already recruited approximately 450 community-based organizations in the City of Philadelphia that have agreed to have a dialogue with their constituency around this issue. They've agreed to distribute materials. They've agreed to have these materials in their organizations, as well as hair and nail salons, churches, any entity that is in the community. We have 400-plus distributing this message. And then, more importantly, they are willing to defend this cause called the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. We've had workshops for community-based organizations before we launched this campaign so everyone would be on the same page. And then the last strategy that we're employing is that we are actually recruiting young people to get involved with carrying this message to the community and to their peers about 38 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 violence prevention. So as you can tell, this is a multi-component effort. We will be at this for the next five years, six years maybe, but behind the social marketing component will come programming, programming that is critical to the support of the community, mentoring programs, parenting programs, education programs, a lot of those programs that are going on in the community now. If you need those resources, as the Representative articulated, there is a resource hotline that is very critical to this campaign. If you need to reach out and touch, we'd like you to call 1-888-570-BLUE, 1-888-570-BLUE. This is a critical component of the campaign. This hotline is being manned by an organization called CHOICE. CHOICE is equipped with case managers to deal with all kinds of issues that they are confronted with as they look to have people call looking for resources, 39 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 looking for solutions. So, again, if you need to reach out, please feel free to call that toll-free number. com. com. You can sign up on the website to actually say, I'm committed, I want to volunteer. You can find out the events that we're going to be at. You can find out how to get involved in this campaign. In addition to the TV ads this fall, we will be launching what we call the Great Vine. That's a take from the grapevine. That's where we move messages through the community via oral communications. The Great Vine is going to highlight the positive things that are going on with young people. We don't always want to single out the negative.

We want to let the kids know who are doing the right thing that they're just important as the ones that are doing the 40 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 negative things. com and they will be recognized in the newsletter and the website and on the radio. So, again, that's very critical that we start to highlight the good things that young people are doing. In addition to that, we will be releasing a youth directory resource guide. That was something that came out in the research. People articulated that they needed to know where to go and who they can contact for help as it pertains to young people. So we will be releasing a resource guide that you can use online and that you can download and distribute. With that said, again, we're here to change the mindset with reference to the community of Philadelphia to look at this issue very differently, to no 24 longer be willing to lock our kids up but to say, Let's prevent violence, let's 41 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 show them the alternatives in life, let's show them that they have choices. With that said, we can make a difference if we ban together. Thank you so much. )

Thank you very much. Now we'll ask Archye Leacock to come forward with his brief presentation.

Let me sit up. I've been sitting back. I'm Archye Leacock. I'm the Executive Director of the Institute for the Development of African-American Youth, and Don't Fall Down in the Hood is one of the eight programs that we manage at the agency. We're all over the City. I'm just starting a Beacon program up on Widener Middle School up in the Ogontz area. We are in Southwest Philadelphia. We're in North Philadelphia, Germantown. We're all over the place. Some 1,200 42 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 young people are in our programs and some 65 staff members, and it's busy every day. I sit back and I listen to our elected officials and Alicia talk, and I really applauded their move in providing the leadership for this situation, for this violence. And I know it took a while to get here, so it's going to take a while for us to fix it. So ten years is not unreasonable for us to try and figure out how to solve it, except I got to tell you, though, Dwight Evans, and I tell you this all the time, that ten years is an awfully long time, because every brother or sister who gets killed, every brother or sister who gets killed, I can't wait another day for this to stop. It simply has to stop. And I don't know how we're going to get this across. And I think the citizens have to be the ones to really get this to the politicians. The folks in Harrisburg talk 43 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 about they don't like the ones in Philadelphia. Guess what? Give me their names and phone numbers. I'll call them and I'll send them letters. I'm not kidding. I sent a bus load of students and staff to Harrisburg last Tuesday for this same kind of reason. The reason I feel the passion about this is because every day parents call me at the agency. Every day I hear the story, that please -- even today three parents, My son is 13, could you help? My son is 11, could you help? My son got arrested, could you help? Every day we hear this story. And I'm thinking that people in Harrisburg are supposed to support Pennsylvania? We're supposed to be looking out for the health of the entire state. Are we going to be segmenting this whole situation about Philadelphia versus this one versus that one? That's a lot of crap, as far as I'm concerned. We really need to get on the 44 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 ball, all of us as citizens, and be making phone calls, not only to go up to Harrisburg one time, but we need to make phone calls to these people who don't want to talk to our leaders, and our leaders need to let us know who they are. Put it in the newspapers, tell us, put it on the website phillyblueprint.com. Let us go on the website and find out who they are. I'm ready to do what I need to do. Unfortunately, last week Tuesday, I could not have been up there to make my voice heard, but I sent my students, my parents and my staff. We're willing to do whatever. It's just not about violence. We feel that violence is critically important, but folks in the audience, listen, it's a larger issue. It's just not about violence. I really think this violence is a by-product. We need economic development in our neighborhoods. We need to provide 45 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 opportunities for young people to work. We need better schools so they know and they're educated how to think critically, how to read and not be thugs on the street. (Applause.)

We need neighborhoods that work. Last night, I was at a meeting where we were trying to select 32 of the most dangerous blocks in Philadelphia. At 6:30 at night on a Sunday I'm in a meeting with a bunch of other brothers and sisters trying to figure out which are the most dangerous 32 blocks in our City. So we're the ones that's going to go and stand up on the corner just to stand up. We want to really go in and find out what is going on in these 32 blocks, what it is we have to do, what services we got to provide, who do we need to talk to, who are the potential leaders in these blocks that we need to help. I was there on a Sunday night 46 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 while my son is with my mother so I can spend time trying to figure out how to do this kind of work. This can be done. People, we are sitting and not letting it happen. We are waiting. Yeah, ten years is great. Our political leaders are giving us the forum, the policies and telling us what we need to do to support them, but we are tolerating a lot of this, and until we begin to talk up in our neighborhoods and talk about what's going on, who is perpetrating this crime to our brothers and sisters, who is doing this kind of stuff, we got to talk. This snitching has got to stop. We got to let the people in Harrisburg know enough is enough. Folks in the audience, you got to get rabble-roused about this. You just can't be sitting down listening to speeches like Sunday morning in a church and then you go out and do the same thing after. We got to do something different, 47 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 and I'm doing something different. If I'm blind and I'm disabled, all you guys can see, you got to do twice what I'm doing. Let's do it. (Applause.)

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Leacock. Let me just introduce Sergeant Kyler, who is going to say a couple of words, and he's here to answer questions. We'll also ask our State Representatives to say a couple of words, and then we'll open up the floor for comments. SERGEANT KYLER: Good evening. My name is Sergeant Kyler from the 18th District. Several things I'd like to talk about. We talk about communication. That's something we're lacking from the adults to the young people, to the police and to the people in this panel. All these things that are coming to light, the shootings, the robberies, they're 48 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 stemming from school events and events in our community. They're going back and forth. If it starts in the neighborhood, they bring it to the school and the school starts the intervention. The Police Department has programs to do intervention, too. We just don't lock people up or just enforce the law. There are social things we also do. For instance, DARE, we have conflict resolution programs, we have intervention programs. And some of these programs actually happen at the police station. So the police station is not always a bad place to be. There's meetings there. Just recently in reference to young people, some young ladies wanted to fight. They're on their school bus. They don't fight on the school bus. They didn't fight at school. They fought as soon as they got off the school bus. My staff arrived there, ascertained what was going on, why did this start. People were taken into custody, taken back to 49 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 our building, and we had an intervention with their parents in our courtroom. Things like that, helping people, speaking up. They didn't want to talk in front of the police, but they talked in front of their parents. So we must maintain those bridges of communication with the parents, the young people and the police. And when we speak up, it's not snitching. It's helping others. Because one day you may need a person to help you, and the only way we can do that is if we help each other.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Representative Waters, would you like to say something? REPRESENTATIVE WATERS: Sure. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to lend my support to this program, this mission, as my colleague, Representative Evans, said. But there's something that I just want to say to all of us who are here, that 50 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 there's no magic wand that's going to fix this problem. It's not going to happen like that. And I know that so many of us, we believe that the answer is on the horizon from some unrealistic place. The answer is within us, and that's something that we have to get real about, is that we hold the answers to our own problems. I keep going to an analogy or this example that I would like to share with you. When I go to a maternity ward and visit and I look at the infants that are laying there in their bassinets and in their incubators or however they're laying there and they're wrapped up in their blankets and their little blue blankets and their pink blankets, those are usually the only indicators that we get as to who's laying there, boys or girls, but there's no blanket that's wrapped around these children that says that they are going to be a drug dealer, that they're going to be a scientist, that they're going to be an elected 51 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 official or they're going to be a prostitute or they're going to be a drug addict or college professor. There's nothing that says that when we go to the hospital. When we see them, all we see is human life, with plenty of potential and promise. And we have to say, What is it that's happening to them when they start growing up in this world that sends them into these different directions that make them 12 and 15 years later after we were seeing them in the hospital and we were all anxious and all excited and goo-goo ga-ga and looking at them and loving them, and 15 years later we don't even want to see many of them. The same human being, all the sudden something happened to them. So we as a community have to start paying close attention to these programs, because somewhere what God sent to us and put in our charge, something has happened to them. The elected officials who are 52 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 here, we have a responsibility from government to bring resources to the community, and we're going to do that, but without community participation and cooperation, we're not going to be as effective as we could be with it. So I'm happy to see that you are here today. In my opinion, you are here because you want to help and you're looking for answers. We do have something to offer here today. This Blueprint I believe will be very helpful. I'm paying close attention to it because I'm looking for answers, too. I live in Philadelphia. I grew up in Philadelphia. I'm just fortunate that I'm still here today to be able to come to this meeting, and I'm even doubly privileged that I'm here in the capacity as an elected official to come before you. But I'm not going to say vote for me and I'll set you free. I'm not going to say that. I'm going to say we, working together collectively, 53 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 government for the people, by the people, working with the people who you have put in charge, together we're going to solve our problems. And no one else is going to solve our problems. We got to get real with that, too. Nobody else is going to solve them. We have to take charge of our community. We have to take charge of our children, and we have to make a difference, and we can do it with your commitment, your commitment to peace. Thank you very much.

Thank you. State Representative Roebuck. REPRESENTATIVE ROEBUCK: Thank you, Madam Chairman. I certainly am grateful to be here tonight. I thank you for the invitation and the ability to participate. It's important I think that City and State officials are coming together around this issue. It's important that we cooperate together to 54 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 try and design policies to address a critical problem within our community, and as we do it on this, we need to do it on other things as well. It's clear that there's much that we need to do in Harrisburg. I would like to be optimistic enough to believe that Dwight and Ron and I can somehow convert some of our colleagues who believe that guns are their friends, who believe that there's no serious problem that you don't solve by putting people into prison or designing laws that are harsh in their consequences, that the real problem isn't a question of who has guns who don't see the need to address that issue. I would like to believe we have that ability, and I think that in time, certainly today's actions in Lancaster suggests very clearly this is not simply a Philadelphia problem. It's not simply an urban problem. But the reality is, it's going to take a lot more of those kinds of incidents to maybe 55 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 convince them that they need to do something. So the real problem, the real issue comes back to what we need to do as individuals who live here, as I do, in Philadelphia, in West Philadelphia, and in part, certainly we need to do more as a community to resolve the issues that lead to violence. We need to do more about setting standards in our community and dealing with things that are acceptable and are not acceptable. We need to have consequences. We need to do those things that say to those who we live with, we aren't going to accept things that you're doing. It's hard. It's not easy. It's dangerous in some cases, but unless we go back and regenerate our communities, we aren't going to solve this problem. If we don't rebuild our families, we don't make kids, our young people, again, the most important thing in our communities, we don't invest in 56 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 them, we aren't going to solve this problem. If we don't say over and over again that, yes, you need to go to school, yes, you need to stay in school, yes, you need to find a career that you want to pursue, unless we make education a priority, we aren't going to solve this problem. So it's about going back to our roots to use what we have. And certainly we need to do more things in Harrisburg. I don't want to lose sight of that, but we also can't say that unless Harrisburg does something, we can't do anything either. We've got to rebuild our communities. We've got to set up consequences. We've got to set up responsibilities for our young people, for our adults, and we've got to use what we have to resolve this problem. I'm hopeful certainly that we can resolve this problem short of ten years. I remember when we did the 57 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 provisions for the session we're in now in Harrisburg, Committee of the Whole, and we made that decision in June, and when that decision was made, I felt like standing up on the floor and saying, Wait a minute, we shouldn't go out of session here in June, we should do this right now, because by the time we come back in September, how many more people will be dead in the City that I represent? This is a serious crisis. It's something we can't delay. So although I understand that time is a factor, it's something we've got to resolve with a greater urgency, with a greater commitment and try to resolve it with an immediacy and urgency that transcends everything else.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Now that we have heard from the panel about the Blueprint, how it got started, what we're trying to do, we're going to open up the floor to those of you who would like to come over to the 58 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 microphone, ask a question, make a statement, give us your ideas. We will ask you to limit your comments to a couple of minutes because we have a lot of people here. First let me recognize Ms. Clare Ryans, who is from -- I don't have my glasses, so I can't see. Cherie Ryans. Stand up, please, from Mothers in Charge. (Applause.)

They're part of the Blueprint, and as you know, they were organized around violence. Most of them have children who have been murdered, and they are working very hard with young people to help them change their behavior in the community. And thank you so much for coming out. We're going to recognize Steven Johnson from Men United for a Better Philadelphia, who is here. Thank you for coming. (Applause.) 59 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155

Their leader walked from Philadelphia to Harrisburg to talk to individuals along the way up in Reading and Norristown and some of the smaller towns between here and Harrisburg to talk about the issue of gun violence, and that was very effective and a very important thing for them to do. And Elisha Morris is here from PAAN, Philadelphia Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence Network. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

And we'd like to have -- Mr. Leacock, I think these are young people with you from Don't Fall Down in the Hood. Let's ask the young people to please stand and be recognized. They're part of his program. (Applause.)

Thank you. We appreciate your coming out, and we invite you to share with us some of the 60 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 comments that you might want us to hear as you function in the program or however you feel you might want to communicate with us. Those who would like to say something, please come to this microphone. We ask you for our records to please identify yourselves so we'll have your name on the record. And if you have a question, you might want to direct it to one person or you might want to have a comment. We're taking recommendations and suggestions. We want to hear from you how you feel about this issue of violence and how you think the Blueprint might be able to help you in your community. MS. McFADDEN: Good evening, everybody. My name is Tamika McFadden. I want to applaud you all for bringing this together. I think this is very much needed. (Applause.) MS. McFADDEN: But I also want 61 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 to say that our problem is bigger than violence. If you ask me, we are truly in danger of losing our community within the next ten, years, not only to violence 6 but the rise in HIV amongst our youth, as 7 well as our families being put into the 8 prison system. 9 But I don't want to sit up and 10 tell everybody about our problems. I 11 prefer to talk about solutions. And let 12 me just say one of the things I did hear 13 you say earlier was, you want to solicit 14 membership. So I'm not going to stand 15 here today and say, Oh, we need to do 16 this or we need to do that, but what I 17 will say is that you have my membership 18 and that I will participate in any way 19 that I can as a leader in the community 20 and as a mother.

Thank you so much. Make sure you either sign on to the Blueprint on the Internet or you talk to Ms. Jackson. MS. McFADDEN: Okay. Thank 62 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 you. I wrote down a couple of notes as you were talking, because I wanted to make sure I didn't forget my thoughts, but one of the first things that I noticed that we did today, and I was very much impressed with this comment -- I can't remember which one of you made this comment, but you said that when you came together, you said we don't know what the answer is, and I think that's really the first step in solving the problems, because if you ask me, for years and years and years and years in program after program after program, resource guide after resource guide after website after phone numbers, we are spinning our wheels. I'm not saying now moving forward, but over the past, we have been spinning our wheels. To me as a resident, it don't make sense to me that we have all these resources and programs, but yet statistics continue to get worse. I 63 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 don't understand that. So with my own perception of what I'm thinking is what we see in our community extrinsically, I think it's only a reflection of what's on the inside of our people. We have a wounded community emotionally, mentally and socially. And I honestly believe that in our approach to making these changes, please do not forget leadership development. Please do not forget to bring the churches on board, because honestly, I'm not a religious fanatic, but we need our spirituality. We need our spirituality. I want you to really hear that. I don't care if it's a Christian or a Muslim, a Buddhist, we need God. And until we're able to recognize and not just chase numbers and not just run after business but run after qualitative programs that will be non-threatening, wholistic and engaging so that families can want to participate in our programs -- because we can have all the programs you want, but our front 64 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 line staff does not have community sensitivity training -- we will continue to spin our wheels, and nobody will utilize our resources. You may have that small pocket, that minority, but what about the majority? And it's a good thing that you're having this dialogue. I'm very happy you're having this dialogue, because I've been having this inside of me to say for a very, very long time and it feels good to get it off my chest, and I really hope that we take it to heart. It's inside of us to change, economic development and social, emotional and mental development and family development. And we have to be able to care, not just chase numbers but really care and have that passion. You can have them both, because I understand in order to get funding, we got to chase numbers, too, but just don't forget about the quality, and that's all I ask, is that we make sure that we instill some 65 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 leadership and some community sensitivity training with these CBOs, the community-based organizational leaders and the front line staff of these organizations. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you.

Good evening, Madam Chair, elected officials and guests. My name is Denise Garris, former President of the business association on 60th Street. Programs are good. Programs are great. Okay? What the young lady said is fine. We used to have them in the School District. We used to have them in the School District. You say that a lot of these things are coming from schools, school-based as far as violence are concerned. Home economics taught parenting, by the way. Okay? Took that out. All right? You had your vocational education situation where 66 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 young people were proud of what they produced. Took that out. Okay? All these programs that you gave a lot of money to, they were in the School District. You took that out. Why reinvent the wheel? One thing I do see that -- I'm an educator, by the way, and one thing that I do see that you have here is Truancy Court, and I had the pleasure one year while subbing as a counselor in the late '90s to be a part of that Truancy Court. That was the best thing that ever happened. Okay? Because who did you have accountable for? Parents. Parents were accountable for their children. About time. But other programs that you have, you had them in the school system. You had churches and prayers in the school system. You had a lot of things in the school system and you took them out. Okay? Put them back. I am now teaching in the 67 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 prison. Okay? That's where my school system is, and it's horrifying that we have to build another prison for the women and we have an over-crowdedness of young people in the prison. This should not happen. GED programs, this is the first year I've had a group of men that want to get their GED and say they're going to make a difference. We got to get the young people like these young people to grab more young people. Okay? And we got to be accountable for them as people. Okay? Put those things back in the school system. All this money is going elsewhere. Fine. But you had them right there where they belong, back in the school system. Please put them back. Thank you. (Applause.)

I think they're listening, because I believe the vocational schools are coming back, which are desperately needed. Not everybody is 68 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 a scientist or a genius that can head to college. But the School District, I believe, has reestablished the vocational training. So I think that the home ec -- I just was kidding my colleague, Councilwoman Miller. The little bit I learned to cook was in school. She assumed it was my mother that taught me, but it wasn't. And I agree with you totally.

I'm a former home economics teacher, by the way.

I think we're heading in the right direction, because the vocational training is back, and I think some of those basic things are heading back to our School District.

They should never have been taken out. Okay? Thank you.

Thank you. (Applause.)

Good evening. My 69 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 name is Thomas Porter. I'm a registered voter, conscientious citizen. I'd just like to make one recommendation to our panel of politicians and legislature. If we could possibly make any kind of change with the Witness Protection Program such as why can't witnesses testify anonymously so they don't have to be subjected to all this harassment and intimidated, what-have-you? Therefore, it would allow them to even come forward more willingly, as opposed to the way the situation is now. Nobody wants to stand in court. You got a whole family, whole neighborhood looking at you, and where are you going to hide? Relocation, there's not enough money for relocation. If you can testify anonymously, hey, eliminate the costs, people would be willing to stand up and it will definitely effect change right away.

One of the 70 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 things that we're looking into right now is, the federal government has an excellent Witness Protection Program. We don't want to in government keep reinventing the wheel and we're going to look to see if the feds can help us, and when we have people that want to step forward, that the federal government could be the organization that oversees the folks.

But why invoke all this cause factor?

I'm sorry?

I said why invoke this cause factor, the government stepping in? Like I said, if you do this anonymously, there's no problem.

Well, the message I'm trying to send to you is the fact that we've got an excellent program in place and to utilize the existing federal Witness Protection Program might be a way to head.

The 71 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 gentleman is saying the person should do it anonymously. The Constitution says that the accused has to face the accuser.

Yeah, but this is a new day. We got new problems. You got to get new solutions. That's all I want to say. Thank you.

Thank you. That's a federal constitutional amendment. We can't get it on the State, let alone the federal.

Good evening. My name is Raymond Hayward. To the City official and the State officials, it's an honor to be in your presence and that you saw fit to come to West Philadelphia High School for this forum. I just so happened to be coming off the El and someone handed this to me. Prior to that, I knew nothing about Blueprint, knew nothing about anything. What I feel -- I'm an alumni of West 72 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Philadelphia, alumni of Sulzberger Junior High. So I'm born and bred right here in West Philadelphia. You have an apathetic philosophy that's just taking over. On my way walking here, an older woman was sitting on her porch and I spoke to her. She's at least 76. Her son is upstairs. He's younger than me. Lord willing, on Thursday I'll be 52. He's 33. He's upstairs looking at TV. I said, Well, didn't he see about the flyer? Oh, we got it in the mail. He's not going? So you have that apathy that's going on in the City. You also have the bureaucracy which has somewhat turned a face to the residents of West Philadelphia. When they initiated the El and what they were going to do, they had said that they were going to hire so many youth in the City to help work. I don't see nobody in my neighborhood working 73 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 there. To further elaborate on that, you have a market at 56th and Market Street, Fresh Grocer. They are petitioning LCB to sell alcoholic beverages. You don't hear about that. You also do not have anyone addressing the AIDS and HIV situation. With violence, with the drugs, with the alcohol, people become promiscuous. Oh, man, I was so high, I didn't know what I was doing, and here they're HIV positive. You also have churches who do not want to face the fact that some of these young women that are getting pregnant are in their congregations. So when you say that the health issue is to direct it to prevention, you have to look at the reality that people are doing it. They don't want the condoms in the schools, but somebody has got to give it to them. If you don't give it to them, they're going to go in the bushes and do it anyway. 74 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 So I think there definitely has to be a tie-in with maybe through the HIV Office of Planning, these type of things. I didn't hear anything about that, but everything ties into one another. Just like they say, if people start drinking or start using marijuana, they go to alcohol, they go to crack. Well, you also have to look at if you're going to get high, then something is going to feel good, this might feel better. So it's a continuation. We need to address that. And the young people aren't as stupid as we think they are. They know what's going on. They can tell us a thing or two. And that's what I would like to just share. I was just elected to co-chair a committee called Positive Committee and it's through the HIV Planning Office. So you will be seeing a lot of me at some of your public forums. And my only question tonight is, where is Jannie Blackwell? Where is Tommy Blackwell? Aren't they 75 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 part of this constituent in this area? Thank you. (Applause.)

Let me just answer the question about the HIV/AIDS issue. I chair the Public Health and Human Services Committee, introduced a resolution a couple of weeks ago. We will be having hearings in City Council on the whole issue of HIV/AIDS, and in a moment after we finish with a couple of you, we're going to introduce our State Senator, who is Chair of the Public Health Committee or the Health Committee in the State and has been a leader in the whole issue of HIV/AIDS. These events come and we all have schedules that conflict sometime. So elected officials go when their schedule will allow them to go. So they're not here not because they're not interested, because I know they both care a lot, and this is Councilwoman Blackwell's district, I think State 76 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Representative Blackwell's district, too, and -- REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: This is Roebuck's district.

Roebuck's district. I'm sorry. They're across the street. But their not being here doesn't mean that they're not interested.

And I also know that Councilwoman Blackwell will be having some City Council hearings also around the issue of violence, particularly targeted to the West Philadelphia area or her district.

Thank you. Would you identify yourself, please.

Hello. My name is Renald Williams and I'm a 30-year resident of Philadelphia, over 30 years, from North Philly to West Philly to Southwest, South Philly. I've been moving around and some of the things I'm seeing. And what you were saying, a lot 77 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 of things I was hearing tonight is what I always wanted to see, politicians, community, church-based, schools, everybody connected to actually say to children. So I want to believe that there is not just going to be talk, there is going to be action to go along with everything I'm hearing. In saying that, I want to say I wanted to volunteer, find out how I can get connected with this. And I think his program is where I can best serve right now. But I just wanted to say, we have new problems, but we're doing it the old way. As far as education, I heard education and I heard supporting the parents. What I just said, I've been moving around this City from four different parts of the City, and we know that there's a lot of ignorance coming out of households that once you bring these children in here, you see what kind of children you're getting. So you just 78 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 can't say the parents and hold them accountable if they're not accountable. So what happens to these children? So I'm just thinking that the Philadelphia education school and its curriculum has to revitalize itself or reinvent itself. Keep the textbooks, but somebody has to actually put as part of the curriculum "critical thinking, "creative thinking and moral thinking." Somebody has to teach kids to be moral all over again. And if you talk about a ten-year initiative, you start with whatever grade, 8th grade, 6th grade, and teach these kids for ten years, you'll save a whole lot more, because we cannot assume. Because I always say I can teach my kids, and I have two, but they still got to sit next to somebody else's child that's not teaching them. And if we're going to say we're going to educate and support the parents, I did hear that, that is supporting the parents. We heard about the prison 79 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 system. Somebody just said African-American women are one of the fastest rising populations. So you got the brothers in jail and the sisters in jail. Where are the children in this? Somebody got to teach them. So I think that should be part of the initiative of the whole Blueprint movement, is to actually think about teaching children to be critical thinkers about their own lives, to teach them to be moral, to teach them respect and to teach them to be creative thinkers, because then we can build new children. We just can't give them textbooks and hope they become capitalists after they graduate high school. They have to be conscious. But I love what I'm hearing and I believe, because I have to -- I have no 21 other choice but to believe -- this is not going to be talk but action, and I definitely want to join this brother's program. Thank you. 80 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155

Dr. Leacock, he wants to join your organization and work with you and the young people. I think that's good. We'll make sure you give us your name to Mr. Leacock. Yes.

My name is Wayne Jacobson. I'm from Ex-Offenders for Community Empowerment. I'm Executive Director. I just want to ask the Reps one quick question. The guy that was involved with the killing in Lancaster, was he an unauthorized person to have a gun or was he legal? Ya'll checking that out now? Because that's the first thought that came to my mind when I heard. I wonder was he unauthorized to even own a gun. My question is mostly to the Representatives. First of all, I'd like to say that the Blueprint is a very good plan. However, I look at the gun violence as one would look at coming home 81 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 and finding water running throughout his house. What would be the first thing you do? The first thing you're supposed to do is to cut the flow off. Then you do the cleaning up and the assessment of the damage. And I think that is ya'll responsibility in terms of elected officials, to get legislation passed to stop the flow of illegal guns. Once ya'll can decrease the flow of illegal guns coming into this community, then the Blueprint will be a very good plan. That's all I want to say. (Applause.)

Hi. Good evening. My name is Cherie Ryans. You already introduced me as Mothers in Charge. I'm here to say that I support the Blueprint. We support the Blueprint as Mothers in Charge, and we also support all of you who come out. But I want you to know that I am the result of a gun issue. My son and his best friend were gunned down at 40th and Walnut Street 16 82 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 years ago. That pain never goes away. So those elected officials that are in Harrisburg, they don't understand anything else. Let them understand the pain that we feel every day. When that little 5-year-old girl was killed, it opens up our children's coffins. If that doesn't get them, I don't know what will. They have got to do something about these illegal guns on the street. And we are trying all we can to help along with everybody else to stop the flow of these guns. It was my son 15 years ago. It was that lady's daughter 16 the other day. Who is to say -- and it was the people in the Amish County today. Who is to say it won't be one of them tonight? We have to wake up. We have to wake up, people. All of us have to wake up. (Applause.)

I'm Horace Patterson. Four quick comments. Number one, my nephew was 83 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 killed at 48th and Market Street. Second, nothing is going to change -- no. What goes in is what comes out. What is going into the young people is not good, and that's what we're seeing. We have to put better things into their minds, and what we'll see will be a whole lot different. The second thing is, nothing will change until you change people's hearts. It has to come from the inside out. The third thing, this gentleman -- excuse me; the blind gentleman. You want to know the 32 most dangerous blocks in the City of Philadelphia. I was on -- I'm going to tell you what the number one is, in my opinion. The 1500 block of Taney Street in South Philadelphia. I was down there the other day looking at a job, and some young people went behind -- could have been a 15-year-old boy. Pulled out a gun, an automatic weapon, was walking 84 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 down the street with it. What shocked me the most about that is, there was kids along the block, parents, adults. Not one person moved and ducked. When I saw it, I hopped in my car and backed down the street to get the heck out of the neighborhood. But everybody on that block, it's like a normal everyday occasion, like no big deal. You would think he was bouncing a basketball down the street. It was that ridiculous to me. An automatic weapon, walking down the street. All the boys were on the corner taking it back and forth, under his shirt, back out. It was unbelievable. So for your information, the most, in my opinion -- and I've been on a lot of blocks in Philadelphia. I've been in Philly my whole life. The 1500 block of Taney Street in South Philadelphia, make that your number one block. That should be number one of your 32 blocks you're looking for. Okay? 85 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155

I got you. Okay.

Any more questions or comments?

Madam Chairwoman, thank you. To the other honorables, good evening. My name is Elisha Morris. I'm the coordinator of the PIRIS program for PAAN. My supervisor, Mr. Rudy Johnson, is sitting back there. Mr. Johnson, wave your hand so they'll know you're here. Mr. Kenyatta, Bay, who works with me. And I point them out because I heard a couple of people come to this mike, Madam Chairwoman, and said they hadn't really heard about the Blueprint. Well, since April the 24th when I was hired at PAAN to run this particular program, Representative Evans, I had three clients. Last week on Friday, Senator Hughes, I had 65. I'm not real good in math, Councilwoman, but they tell me that's a 2,000 percent increase.

You're good 86 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 in math.

Yeah. I did graduate. And we've been going out -- from Cheyney and Germantown High School. We've been going out after these individuals have been shot and received services at either Einstein, Temple or University Hospital of Pennsylvania and doing meetings and rallies about them. And the Senator was out at 49th and Aspen out in the rain along with his Ward Leader, Willie Jordan, one evening with us. And last week -- before I get to last week, can I just tell you that tomorrow night we'll be at 72nd and Woodland at 6 o'clock, and on Thursday night, the 5th, we'll be at 50th and Summer Street in West Philadelphia. Last Thursday, we had one of these shootings that we went out in the community, and, Councilwoman Tasco, it was in our neighborhood, 66th Avenue 87 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 right around 18th Street. And when I came in the office this morning, I got a phone call from Officer Baynard, the community relations officer in the 35th, and he was a little disturbed about the fact that we had the meeting on Thursday. And he had a lot of residents, a lot of community people in his office at the moment he called me, and they were concerned, Representative Evans, because after our meeting on Thursday, somewhere on Saturday and Sunday night a number of cars were vandalized, a number of windows broken out and that kind of thing. And he was upset and he wanted to know what did we do while we were out there, what did we do. And I said, Well, we were on the corner of 66th and 18th and we had about 50 neighbors and one of the committee persons out, and we were talking about what we do over at PAAN around the PIRIS program and how we had all these other services, because Twist 88 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 was out there with us, and unfortunately none of the other City agencies were with us that night. And so I said, We were just talking about solutions through the Blueprint that we can bring to the neighborhood, same thing we do all over the City. He called me back at around 4 o'clock and said that there's a subsequent meeting scheduled at Mount Airy Church of God and Christ on Saturday. I told him I hope it wasn't Saturday morning because I'm already booked early Saturday morning. I hope it was Saturday afternoon. But I'm trying to make light of a very serious situation. What Officer Baynard said to me -- and this really, I think, is a part of what the Blueprint causes, and if people don't get this, then they missed the whole point of what you all are trying to do. He said to me, he said, In the 89 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 crowd were a lot of young people. And I said, Yes. He said, Well, the adults are saying that the young people were there to intimidate the adults so that they wouldn't talk to you about what was going on in the community. I said, Well, we weren't asking about what was going on. I was telling them what was going on, because I'm talking about this individual who was shot and the reason he was shot around that neighborhood, according to the police report. And he said that the adults were being intimidated by the young people in that community. And it seemed strange to me that we will do all that you all are doing that's good and we will still allow -- and when I say "we," I'm talking about "we" as adults -- we will still allow the children who live in our homes or the children who live next door to us 90 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 or the children who live in our neighborhoods to intimidate us to the point where they will not even tell the police who was in the crowd with the menacing looks intimidating them on last Thursday. They would rather get mad at me and PAAN for coming out and holding the meeting. I think the anger is misplaced. I'll be there on Saturday, Lord willing, and they don't have it early in the morning, but I think we need to recognize that this whole problem is more than what the Blueprint can do, and it goes back to a policing issue.

And I know I'm the only one probably in the City who thinks like this, but I'm from Germantown High School and Cheyney and we think a little bit differently. We keep building prisons way out where there used to be coal mines and steel mills and we keep shipping our kids out there. I think we need to look at building some of those prisons, because I 91 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 hear people say it's an economic thing. Forty-five thousand dollars a year as a prison guard is a lot of money, and we need some of that money to stay somewhere near. If we can build a federal prison across the street from the African-American Museum that doesn't look like a federal prison, I think we can build some state county prisons in some of our areas where there are train tracks and nothing else that would help. Because at the end of the day, after we all have done all that we're doing in a social work kind of way, we need some police who will arrest, some DAs who will convict and some prisons that will contain and hold some folk who refuse to recognize that the rest of us have a right to be on the corner, too. And when young people can intimidate adults, young people who are not working, who are still in school, can intimidate adults who are working and paying taxes to try and keep the adults from meeting on the corner to 92 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 make life better for the whole of the community, something is wrong, and we need to go back to a police solution for those group of young people. I want everyone to recognize the Blueprint is working. We're out every day. Kenyatta and I are out every day. We are talking to your constituents every day. Some of you, Rep Waters and your staff and all of you, are out there. It's working, but we still need a police side to all of this. Thank you.

Thank you. Let me recognize State Senator Vincent Hughes, who might comment on that and say a few brief remarks until we have the other two people to come up and give their comments.

Could I add something to that, Donna Reed Miller?

Yes.

Could I just add something? 93 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 I do hear what you're saying about young people and I do want to say I've spent the last years of my life 5 working with young people. I would like 6 to be invited out to the next corner 7 where these young people are. 8 We work with some of the most 9 difficult, the most truant, the most 10 dangerous young people, and we find that 11 young people are, once given 12 opportunities and some support and 13 mentoring, that they are not that 14 difficult. I have a very different take 15 on a lot of this stuff, because we 16 work -- I'm in a room with 50 young men, 17 only with Heather, who is here. 18 Heather, do you want to raise 19 your hand. Everyone can see you? 20 When I'm in the room with 50 young men, I'm not afraid, and they know very well they got to do what I'm telling them to do. And I would like for some of them to stare me down. Obviously I won't see them staring me down. That's why 94 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 they don't stare me down. But I'm serious. I would like to come out to join you, because I'm not so sure I'm supportive of more police. I think that's something we need a dialogue on, and I really am much more optimistic about the resilience of young people and the kinds of support young people need. And those young people who are staring down adults, we really need to take a look at that and work with those young people on that corner. I would like to see that handled in a positive way and I would like to join you on that journey.

Senator Hughes, would you like to comment? SENATOR HUGHES: Yes, I can comment, and I know it's getting late, and I'm certainly impressed with the amount of people who are here on an Eagles football night and certainly appreciate that, but I will be brief. Okay? To the brother who wanted to 95 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 know anything about HIV, you can always contact my office. We do a lot of work in that whole area. Folks need to know that 60 percent of all the new HIV infections in the City are African-American women and it's principally through heterosexual contact. And, young ladies, if the man who you're with does not want to wrap it up, don't open it up. I'll just make it that plain. Okay? I'll make it that plain. If he doesn't respect you enough to do what you need to have done to protect your life, then you don't need him in your life in any capacity. I'm going to be straight. If he don't want to wrap it up, don't open it up. I could direct you to a website, a U2 website. If any of you are interested in it, some of my colleagues in Harrisburg may have come across this, because it's a video of some young brothers in Harrisburg who are blandishing their weapons -- and, Dwight 96 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 and Ron, your office may have come across this one -- who are blandishing their weapons in a video that they made. They're talking all kinds of trash, using all kinds of language on the video on U2, and it's alarming from a number of different perspectives. It's alarming that they would do that, that they would have those weapons with them. It's alarming that they would act that way. It's alarming that they would expose themselves on television on a video, because within a few days after it was on the video and people got wind of it, they were all arrested. Because you kind of like expose yourself when you put it out there. But then if you look at it a little deeper and you hear the attitude of one of the young men, who was like, I don't care, I'll do my time, come back out and come back to this and ya'll can arrest me again, and I'll do my time and I'll come back out and I'll do this. 97 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 It's just a self-repeating cycle. There is a combination of, I think, a need for policing and appropriate policing, because we have a right to have safe and sound communities for us to live in. None of us wants to think about -- all of us hate the idea every morning when we wake up and send our children off. And all of us live this, whether you're elected officials or not. All of us go through this, think about is my child going to come home at the end of the day, are they going to come home from school at the end of the day. It doesn't matter who you are. We all go through that. So we have a right to have a safe and secure society so that we can live freely, but I also know that there's a lot of pain all over the place. There's a lot of hurt and a lot of pain all over in these young people, who then become adults, who then become old people, and they're suffering and dealing 98 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 with a lot of pain, and it starts at the very early age. And we got to create a system -- and I think the Blueprint is a great piece. It's comprehensive in its scope. It addresses the issue at multiple levels. We have to support it and create a system where we can intervene at no matter what age someone may be, no matter what circumstance they may be in. We have to create a situation where we can figure out a way to grab them. If they're on their way to jail and they're doing serious time in jail, we know they're going to come out at some point, so what are we doing with them while they're incarcerated to make sure that when they come out, that they're better than they went in. And at the moment that they hit the street when they come out -- and we're working on a program like this with Ray Jones and Bilal. It's an offender reentry program.

The moment they come out, as soon as they hit the street, we grab them 99 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 up and put them in a place and put them in a circumstance where they can get the rest of their situation together. But you got to intervene. Whether it's in schools, whether it's in churches, we got to create a comprehensive network, shelters, wherever it may be, and that's why we're here, to hear that kind of feedback, make sure we don't miss nothing. But we got to create a point and a mindset that allows us to figure out a way to heal people in any and every situation so we can truly bring a break to the violence. We live in a violent society that is violent not just because of guns. It is economically violent when you have the disparate economic situation that exists. It's socially violent. We are very violent. Even those of us who are not doing anything, we are violent in how we interact with one another, how we talk to one other, You no-good so-and-so, such-and-such. It's not just the mother 100 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 in the supermarket who backhands her kid because he's walking too slow and won't catch up. You know what I'm talking about. And we all have to do a policing of ourselves. I don't know if this is the wrap-up comment, Councilwoman.

We go two more people. SENATOR HUGHES: We got two more people. We got to be out of here. But we all got to police ourselves, and I'll just end on that. We all have to police ourselves in how we engage with one another. That is fundamental to how we really deal with this whole situation. We cannot escape that reality.

Thank you very much. Gentlemen, you have some comments. Come on, stand up. If you all stand at the mike. They're going to be brief, because we are late. We're 101 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 supposed to be out of here at o'clock. 3

Very, very 4 brief. My name is Heather Williams and, 5 like Archye said, I do work with 50 young 6 men who like half the time they're bigger 7 than me, and they don't scare me. Like I 8 read their files before I see their 9 faces, and half the time I'm like, Oh, my gosh, how many guns, and oh, my gosh, how many narcotics, I don't think I want to meet this kid. I meet the kid and he's like a teddy bear like half the time. Their files are worse than their faces. So I think that a lot more needs to be done in like community programming and support. Once you get to know these kids, there's nothing dangerous about them. I don't know if it's a victim of circumstance or just that they haven't been given the opportunity to be in the environment to thrive, but whatever the case may be, our small environment at Anderson Hall -- I mean, we don't win them all, but we win 102 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 most of them, and like that's why I go like every single day, to get like the least one that's going to like thrive out of it. It might not be like a suburban area, but it's not the streets between 4:00 and 7:30. So a little bit helps, and I'm appreciative to Archye to be a part of the organization.

All right. Thank you. (Applause.)

My name is Michael Edrickson and I'm here to represent Nu Sigma Youth Services. And one thing I do look at is -- I will say that I'm a graduate of Roman Catholic High School. I was raised in a foster care system, born addicted to heroin, and graduated from Lincoln University the first HBCU. (Applause.)

And I'm also a proud member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated, and I say that 103 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 because I look at Lincoln University and a lot of things that was happening in that Lincoln University, because we were known as a party school, because we do party. There was a period where there were guns on campus, a lot of drugs on campus and a lot of fights on campus. And the Dean shut the school down. We couldn't have any more parties, things we couldn't do, and he held the Greek organizations accountable. He said, If you want your parties back and stuff like that, we need the people in the Greek organizations to come back and hold meetings and talk to the students and talk to the freshmen and stuff like that. And I look at a lot of State Representatives, Mayors and Councilpeople, and if not all but a lot of them are members of Greek letter organizations. And when I look at the City of Philadelphia, you had Kappa Alpha Psi International headquarters right there on Broad Street, and it's like the 104 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 only time that I ever heard of Greek organizations was the Greek Picnic coming up. And when I got to college, I decided to pledge Sigma, and those guys taught me a lot of things. So I'm wondering if we can hold Greek letter organizations accountable maybe through funding and stuff like that to come into these high schools, mentor these young people so that they can go to college or even look outside of the box. Because growing up in Philadelphia, I didn't even think about going to college, and the only reason why I even applied to a college at Roman was because all of the Caucasian kids was getting their names up on the board saying that they got accepted to this college. So I applied, but then I went to the Air Force and then I wound up going to Lincoln. And even at Lincoln, it's a shame that the empowerment that I had to get in college two years after I graduated than when I was in school. When I was in high 105 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 school, if you was to ask me when did black history begin, I will say slavery. I had to wait to get to college to be empowered to know that we were kings and queens in Africa and we were mathematicians and scientists and things like that to really drive me to know that I can be a lawyer, a doctor or whatever I want to be. And now that I've run a mentoring program for young black men in South Philadelphia, is there a way that we can get funding for not just one Greek organization but all of the Greek organizations, these undergraduate chapters at Temple, St. Joe's, Drexel, University of Penn, to come into these high schools and maybe start mentoring programs and SAT prep programs so that the people of West Philadelphia High School, Overbrook High School, Germantown High School can actually have a time to really get out of the box by somebody who has been out of the box and been at college and say, You can go to college. 106 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 I didn't have straight A's in high school, but I was able to get a college degree. So if there was some type of way where ya'll can help us, I think that will be very helpful for our young people to know that they can do something besides drive SEPTA or get a vocational job and things like that, and maybe we could take the Greek Picnic and make it bigger, not to have the chicks on the motorcycles and stuff like that. But I remember the Greek of 2004 where there were college recruitment. College admission counselors set up tables at the Greek and was giving people applications to go to college. And you don't see that a lot. So I think that maybe we need to look to our Greek letter organizations to take a leadership role to go into the communities and help our young people so that they can get out of the box, because there's more to the world than 107 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES.

051155 Philadelphia, and it's a shame that they had to wait most likely to get on a prison bus to see that there's more stuff out here than what's on these corners.

Thank you very much. If you will give your name and phone number to Sharon from my office, we'd like to follow up this conversation with you. Yes, sir.

God bless you. My name is Philip Carter. I'm a product or by-product of this community. I'm also a minister of the gospel now. But I grew up around here. I'm 49 years old now, and I've seen a lot. I've seen, thinking in my memory bank, that I have more friends that have died or on drugs or in bad situations more so than in good in terms of just living or having a job and things of that. That's when I look at the young people sitting here, and though I thank God for everyone that's here, all of us, God bless everybody for being 108 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 there, but the young people particularly, because our young people are living in the City that's pretty much under siege for whatever reason, economic, social, whatever. We're not even going to get into all that. But the young people have the mentality -- and I talk to a lot of them, because I just left the Y playing basketball and football with some of them. They kind of don't look at tomorrow as being promised to them so much, and that reason is because I don't think people are in their ears enough telling them, Look, like the brother was just saying, you can go to college, or like I would tell them, You can go to the military or you can go to church and become somebody in the Lord. You can do things other than what I seen some young guys I know doing yesterday, breaking out somebody's windows and stuff. And a friend of mine and myself, we intervened and tried to stop them, but what 109 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 surprised me is that the guys are this little, but that's all they know. So if this is all they know, what we have to do at a grass-roots level is come to them and just let them know by grabbing them by the arm or just telling them, Hey, young brother, you don't do that, and explaining the consequences for their actions. You know, if you do this, you're going to go to jail or this is going to be like that. But we have to do it in a way to where -- I heard not too long ago talking about people being afraid of young people. I'm not afraid of young people. I did years in the gangs. In fact, I was a leader of one of the most powerful gangs around here, Woodland Avenue one time. And I'm not boasting about that. I'm just saying what I've been through, what I've seen. As I said earlier, I have more friends that are deceased. I got tired of going to funerals. Seventeen at one time. The most dangerous block -- and 110 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 I'll cut it short here. The most dangerous block that I know of in this area, we're on it now, because two of the young brothers that I know was shot on this block. One was a promising fighter getting ready to become a professional on his way to making a lot of money, and another brother was a student in high school. Should that have happened? I can't judge. I'm not God, but I talk to God about that. What I don't like to see is the young lady getting shot and people looking at it as though this is so commonplace. That should not be. So if we can change that from here, from where we are right now, then that's a good thing, but we've got to start like yesterday. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. (Applause.)

We certainly want to thank all of you for 111 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 coming out this evening to listen and to share. We will be at Strawberry Mansion High School on the 19th. I had it confused. And then on the 25th -- and I'll bring my glasses the next time -- we'll be at Bartram High School. So feel free if you'd like to attend those hearings in those neighborhoods also. We'd like to ask State Representative Evans if he has some closing remarks. We want to thank the Representatives for coming out. This is a wonderful showing. Our State Senator for coming out. Give them a round of applause. (Applause.)

Thank my colleague, Councilman Rizzo, my Co-Chair, Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, and Mr. Leacock and Alicia for being on the road. This is the road show. Thank you all very much and God bless you. We will recess this hearing until Thursday, October 19th at 7:00 112 10/2/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 p.m., Strawberry Mansion High School. (Joint Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services adjourned at 9:00 p.m.) - - - 113 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on October 2, 2006, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)